Fereydoon Tavaloli is one of the versatile and popular of the so-called "new" poets. Born in 1919 in the central city of Shiraz, Tavaloli graduated from the university of Tehran in archeology and served for a number of years in his own field. Tavaloli began his poetic life by writing in the manner of the old masters. His first collection of poetry and prose, Al Tafaseel was published in 1945, followed by Karavan in 1952. But his own experience and the influence of Nima Youshij, the founding father of the "new wave of poetry", led Tavaloli to change his style and develop a strong tendency toward the new school of poetry. His first collection of poems in the new style, Raha, which came out in mid fifties stirred considerably in the poetic circles for Tavaloli was regarded a poet of the traditional school.
In the preface to Raha, Tavaloli argues that the classical Persian poetic conventions came into being not through blind imitation, but because of needs peculiar to the epochs concerned. A modern poet, therefore, has just as much right to forsake imitation and, considering the needs and conditions, of his own epoch, write the kind of poetry that would best his feeling in reaction to his world. Living in a world in which relations between the sexes were restricted and drinking wine was considered a crime, the old poets sang endlessly of their secret loves, wine, and the constable's cruelty. Their poetry reflected a world that actually existed for them. For the modern poet, Tavaloli argues, such concerns do not hold any more. He wants to describe the movements of a modern dancer or the changes of nature in the spring and the nomenclature of old poetry is too limited and too conventionalized to be of much use. Also, the obligation to follow a limited set of stanzaic patterns and rhyme and/or a plethora of rhetorical rules and devices, imposes unnecessary impediments in the way of artistic expression.
Tavaloli's poetry did much toward expanding the readership of new poetry. His verse retains enough of the charms of old poetry to make it palatable to the average reader. It often has a regular stanzaic pattern and a rhyme scheme. It is also highly lyrical borrowing much from the expressions and images of classical poets. But at the same time, it is enlivened by innovations, both in form and matter. An outstanding example in this regard is his poem, 'Maryam" in which he masterfully combines the traditional portraiture of the "bathing Shirin" with new descriptive techniques.
Tavaloli knew French language and translated a number of works by the French poets. He died in 1985.
The following is a list of his
published works:
Al Tafaseel (1945)
Raha (1950)
Karavan (1952)
Na'fe (1960)
Poye (1966)
Bazghasht (1990)
Shegarf (1991)
